A Super Heroes Guide To Development – 3. The Super League Of Extraordinary Heroes

3. The Super League Of Extraordinary Heroes

Super Heroes are often seen working together. Teams. This is mostly because writers dream up situations which require more than the skills of an individual.

Remember Voltron? Either the Car or the Lion one. Battle Of The Planets? Each segment had a specific skillset that could be used in a particular situation.

A better, and clearer, explanation is that of the human body.

My foot can’t spoon me some icecream. My hand can’t headbutt the other prop as the scrum packs in. My head doesn’t do so well kicking down a door. Although I guess you can try.

Each segment of the body has it’s own unique talents, and each segment cannot be at it’s best without the other parts.

We are generally pretty good at pointing out faults in other people.

eg. when someone is obnoxious, or when someone has a chip on their shoulder, or when they are easily riled

Harder to narrow down are the gifts and talents in those same people.

When we do, and when we can bind ourselves together, well then most definately what we can produce is nothing short of amazing.

Look at successful teams that we know about.

There’s Google, that mighty jugganaut of development. There’s Blizzard, the game development company behind Diablo, Warcraft, Starcraft. There’s the Australian Rugby team of yester-year, and the Kiwis and Springboks (ahem) of the now :).

Teams can do far more than an individual. One person has limits. A group of one person’s has limits, but they have been expanded far beyond the single radius.

And forming a team isn’t just about getting a bunch of coders to work together.

As a team, each understanding their strengths, what can be achieved is greater than one person on their own.

What is the essence of this point?

Simply, it’s that building relationships will grow us into something amazing. More than we could ever be on our own.

Friends often start companies/projects together. Why? Because they know each other well. They have a good grasp on the abilities of the team, because they have solid relationship.

Learn about the members of the team. How to get on with them. What they like, what they don’t like. How they react under pressure, how they deal with crisis. What kind of dreams they have. And what abilities they wield.

Then, when you know this, in the heat of the battle, you’ll be able to provide them with the support they need, and vica versa. You can be the buffer for their weaknesses, and you can rely on them to be strong when you are not.

Building a team of Super Heroes will bring strength beyond what you can do on your own. I should rectify that.

Building a team of Super Heroes who are bound together through cords stronger than mere acquaintance will bring you true power. A good team will help one another grow powers, address weaknesses .. they will .. just be .. awesome.

A League of Extraordinary Super Heroes is hard to find. Hard to create. But if you really want to achieve something earth-shattering in this world, and come out the other end a better more complete person .. then you need to join a team. Make a team. Lead a team. Find a team.